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A comment on Gene Therapy Was Hailed as a Revolution – Then Came the Bill. Parent comment

Re:Gene Therapy Was Hailed as a Revolution – Then Came the Bill by mikekchar on Monday April 08, 2019 @04:39AM (#19603304)
It's interesting to speculate on the "It costs $1 to press the button and $10K for knowing which button to press" kinds of problems. I mean, if you spend several hundred thousand on a medical degree, it is ethical to ignore someone dying if they can't pay you? Personally, I think it is -- nobody should be forced to do something just because they know how. However, I can totally understand the other point of view. Do the clinics who refuse patients who can't pay watch those people suffer and die? Of course not. It would be horrible if they had to. Would you ever choose to expose yourself to the information that could save people lives if in exchange you would have to choose between watching people suffer or go into bankruptcy as you fail to repay your loans that gave you the information in the first place.

It sucks. I'm with some others who say that we should try to improve our society so that nobody would have to make such a choice.

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Re:Gene Therapy Was Hailed as a Revolution – Then Came the Bill by nradov on Monday April 08, 2019 @09:30AM (#19604969)
In the US, hospitals are legally required to treat patients in serious condition regardless of ability to pay. The hospital has to at least get the patient stabilized before discharge. Hospitals receive some government funding for that, and then they try to make up the rest of the cost by raising prices for insured patients.

Clinics aren't subject to the same requirement and can legally turn indigent patients away.

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